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Print Finder Windows. How Hard Can It Be?
After a few years of Mac OS X Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger, I’m ready for Apple to fix some deficiencies in Mac OS X Leopard.
For example, print Finder windows. How hard can that be? These utilities do it and they’re free.
Even Mac OS Classic could do things that Mac OS X doesn’t do. You have a folder loaded with files and you’d like to print a listing.
Sorry, Charlie. Let someone besides Apple handle that little task. Two Mac OS X utilities can print a Finder list or a list of what’s in a Finder window.
The first is Print Windows from Searchware Solutions. It’s a simple utility that lets your Mac print folder listings from the Finder.
You remember the Finder, right? It’s that lovely leftover from Mac OS Classic that lets us, well, uh, you know… find things on the Mac.
It’s also the one big, honkin’ glaring problem that needs a fix. Fortunately, many Mac developers see an opportunity and fill it.
Print Windows bills itself as the little tool that Apple forgot. Print a file listing from within the Finder. Mac OS X can’t do it.
There’s two versions of Print Windows; one for free, and one for money.
Guess which one your old Friday Freebie Friend Alex will discuss? Come on. Just guess.
The Standard version lets you control the printed list with a few options. Print icons, file information, page headers, even pre-sorting listings.
That last feature is like, you know, so oh-my-God handy. Like really.
Print Windows also lets you print a Finder window which has sub-folders in folders so they show up in the printed listing. Hello?? This is free, you know?
There’s just something to love about little utilities that do one thing and do it so well. Print Windows Standard is a must if you want to print what’s in a Finder window.
At the other end of the scale is PrintFinder from Cedric Merie. The scale is still free, only the options are different.
One of the options that PrintFinder needs is English instructions.
At the basic level where all Mac users can understand, regardless of language, is, well, PrintFinder prints Finder windows. Not quite so many options as Print Windows, but effective nevertheless.
These two utilities do a decent job of filling a gap in Mac OS X. Here we are five years after the launch of OS X and it still won’t print Finder windows listings.
Why not? Obviously, it can’t be that hard because a couple of guys did it already and don’t charge for their effort. One in English and one in French.
I can presume that Apple didn’t feel it necessary, or decided to leave some obvious features out to give some crumbs to the Mac utility and developer folks to scrape up.
As we get closer to the launch of Mac OS X Leopard, we’ll begin compiling a wish list of items for Mac OS X, similar to ComputerWorld’s 15 Things Apple Should Change In Mac OS X.
What’s on your list of things Apple forgot in Mac OS X or needs to change in Leopard?
By the way, Mac360 gives daily Mac updates on Twitter. If you Twitter, give Mac360 a tweet. One more thing. Only the best Mac software gets reviewed on Ron's NoodleMac site. Check it out.
Off Topic Note: Guess what? Kate Mac is back after dumping Windows. Are you ready for a new web site that’s all about Apple? AppleHits covers the Mac, iPhone, iPod, and everything else that’s a hit at Apple.
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I haven’t yet worked on Mac classic , but it has some advance feature .
http://www.atlanticcity.com/blog
Here’s how:
<Run Terminal>
cd directory
ls > ~/Harvey/Desktop/List.txt
<Quit Terminal>
I’ve never had a need, burning or otherwise, to print the list of files and folders in Finder. However, if I should ever develop such a need, I’d open the terminal, redirect the ls command to a file, then open the resulting file in an editor.
It says absolutely nothing about my situation. If an out-of-the-box notebook has an airport problem (as one of mine did) then it is not a user problem, it is a problem that shipped with the notebook. Remember, this is not an isolated problem. I am not the only person who has reported it. What is disturbing is the “not our problem” response that we are getting from Apple.
I manage over 250 MacBooks and MacBook Pro’s on my schools multiple Airport networks. They’re all Airport, all the time.
Problems?
Almost none. Those problems I have are usually user related.
What does that say, Squidoo!!
This is an Apple problem, not a user problem. Airport on notebooks with Tiger installed work. Airport on notebooks with Leopard installed has a 50-50 chance of working on the same network. This is true on notebooks that come directly from the factory with no user changes at all. I have had a notebook work under Tiger and fail to work an hour later after doing a clean install of Leopard. Apple says that I need to update the firmware on the wireless router, but that will not work if I do not control the router, such as in a coffee shop or in a hotel. It is easy to simply blame the user, but the reality is that Apple does have a problem with airport, and Apple does not seem to be interested in trying to fix it. I will not use Leopard on a notebook. It simply isn’t reliable. Desktops, on the other hand, work great with Leopard.
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